Relationship Between Narcissism Personality and Theory of Mind: A Meta-Analytic Review

Theory of Mind (ToM) is crucial for interpersonal interactions, yet the ToM abilities in narcissistic personalities are not well understood. This meta-analytic review seeks to resolve these discrepancies by elucidating the relationship between narcissistic personality traits and ToM. For this purpose, hypotheses were posited regarding the relationships between the variables according to narcissistic subtypes (grandiose vs. vulnerable; agentic, antagonistic and neurotic; pathologic vs. adaptive) and ToM functioning (cognitive and affective) and measurement (trait vs. actual) types. This meta-analysis investigates the Theory of Mind (ToM) in narcissistic personalities, focusing on how narcissistic traits correlate with cognitive and affective ToM. The study synthesizes data from 33 English-language studies involving 11,031 participants, adhering to PRISMA guidelines and using R software with metafor and dmetar packages for analysis. Results indicate a significant negative correlation between narcissism and ToM, particularly pronounced in vulnerable narcissism and pathological narcissism. Grandiose narcissism displayed no correlation, suggesting a self-serving bias in trait measures. Vulnerable narcissists showed consistent results across actual and trait measures, with cognitive ToM being more affected than affective ToM. The study’s limitations include the underrepresentation of pathological narcissists and potential measurement biases in affective ToM. Overall, the findings suggest that narcissism is not a binary condition but varies dimensionally, with distinct socio-cognitive profiles for vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, contributing to the understanding of narcissistic personality structure.